Witchcraft and Paganism

Firstly, we don't normally recommend reading as a method of attaining enlightenment.

Any path of enlightenment, and especially an occult one, is an experiential journey. It deals with the emotions and the psyche, your own deeper emotions and beliefs; and these won't be found in a book. The Craft is about developing a relationship to the world and to the Gods. This is a personal relationship that expresses as much about your own psyche as it does the nature of the Divine:

With this warning in mind, there are some excellent books out there. For the gay readers amongst you, it must be said that most of these books are written from the "straight" perspective: there are few gay witches writing, and we can only write from what we know. That said, I'm not sure quite how a specifically "gay" book on Wicca would differ from a "straight" one...

We can give a word of warning (and this one stems from my academic training, as well as many years of occult study and reading): Occult reading should be done with equal measures of respect for the authors knowledge and experience, and a healthy scepticism over any "Truths" they claim to make. Unless you have very good reason, never accept anything you read at face value: the Gods gave us a brain for a reason, so use it!

That said, don't dismiss what you read offhand: just because you find something difficult to understand or hard to accept doesn't mean that it is not so. Many authors write from their own Tradition's teachings, and from the basis of many years of personal experience - they often bare a lot in their writing, and some even risk breaking Sacred oaths in passing on the information they do; they do so in the belief that the Craft must grow or die, and in the hope that those who read their works will have the discipline and respect not to abuse the sacred trust they lay upon them.

So, on the next few pages you should find a list of some of our favourite resources. As an added bonus, The Wellhead is now a member of the Associates program with the Internet bookshop Amazon.co.uk; if you wish you can purchase the items we recommend via this site by following the links from each of the book reviews to the relevant order screen at Amazon. (The Wellhead gets a commission for every item orders from here, so you'll also be helping to support our work here too!)

• Books on Paganism
• Books on Wicca
• Books on Magick
• General books
• Internet sources